NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Description Docility Melody. 



part of the body are of a dark grey in the middle 

 and lighter round the edges. On the head is a 

 stripe of a reddish grey round the upper part of 

 the bill; the throat, the front of the neck and 

 the belly are of a dusty white, slightly tinged 

 with red, and having a few brown spots scattered 

 over the breast and on the sides. The wings are 

 of a brown grey ; the two feathers in the middle 

 of the tail are the same with a reddish tint, and 

 the others of a dark brown. The iris of die eye 

 is ash-coloured ; the upper mandible of the bill 

 brown; the lower yellowish, and the feet and 

 nails are light grey. 



This is a long-lived healthy bird, and much 

 admired for its harmony. At full growth it is 

 six inches and a quarter long; of which the tail 

 is three inches, and the bill three quarters of an 

 inch. When in flesh it weighs about an ounce 

 and a half. It is easily tamed, and becomes so 

 familiar as to eat off the table, and even alight 

 on the hand ; but it cannot cling by the toes, on 

 account of the form of the hind toe, which is too 

 long and straight. This is the reason why it 

 never perches on trees. 



The lark commences his song early in spring, 

 and continues it during the whole of the summer. 

 It is heard chiefly in the morning and evening, 

 and it is one of those few birds thai chant their 

 mellow notes on the wing. Thomson elegantly 

 describes it as the leader of the warbling choir : 



